Our Pediatricians Are Speaking Up as Florida Weighs Changes to School Vaccine Rules

A change to a school requirement is not a change to medical evidence. Pediatric Associates clinicians are making that distinction clear for families across Florida.

Florida parents have every reason to feel confused right now. Headlines about childhood vaccines have been constant, and it is hard to tell what has actually changed and what a family should do next.

Here is the short answer from our pediatricians: nothing about the medical evidence has changed.

On August 24, the Florida Department of Health published a proposed rule that would remove four vaccines from the requirements for children entering Florida schools: hepatitis B, varicella (chickenpox), Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib), and pneumococcal conjugate. The proposal would also broaden the state’s religious exemption language to include moral and ethical beliefs, and would change how families participate in Florida’s immunization registry. It is a proposal, not a final rule, and today’s school entry requirements stay in place while the process moves forward.

When families are unsure, they turn to their child’s pediatrician. That is why our clinicians are lending their voices to the public conversation, in plain language, grounded in what they see in exam rooms every day.

In the Orlando Sentinel

In a September 13 guest commentary, Pediatric Associates pediatrician Luz Marina Pages, MD, FAAP, walked parents through what the proposed rule would and would not change. Her central point: pediatricians did not begin recommending these vaccines because the state required them. They recommend them because decades of evidence show the vaccines prevent serious illness, including chronic liver disease, meningitis, pneumonia, and bloodstream infections in young children.

She also reminded readers that children do not live in isolation. They move between classrooms, homes, playgrounds, and grandparents’ houses, sharing those spaces with newborns too young to be fully vaccinated, with family members in cancer treatment, and with people whose immune systems cannot protect them. Whatever happens through rulemaking, she wrote, the conversation in the exam room stays anchored to the same question it has always been: what does the evidence say is best for this child?

In State Affairs Florida

In a September 10 interview, Dr. Pages addressed the misconceptions she hears most often from parents.

The first is the belief that a change in a school rule means the medical recommendation changed too. It does not. Pediatricians separate policy from evidence, and the recommendation rests on the disease, the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine, and the child in front of them.

The second is the fear that families would lose vaccine coverage. Federal law requires private insurance and Medicaid to continue covering these vaccines at no cost to families, regardless of what Florida decides.

She also pointed to the numbers behind the concern. Herd immunity requires about 95 percent coverage. Florida’s MMR vaccination rate has slipped below 89 percent, and the state has recorded 156 measles cases this year. Her closing point, as a pediatrician of nearly three decades: “we cannot afford to take a step back.”

Where Pediatric Associates stands

We are working alongside the Florida Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Infectious Disease Preventive Network to make sure the voices of pediatricians and the families we care for are part of this process.

Our commitment to families does not depend on the outcome. Every child who comes through our doors will continue to be offered the full recommended immunization schedule, and every parent will continue to get honest answers to their questions.

What parents can do

1. Talk with your pediatrician. Your child’s care team knows your child’s history and can answer questions specific to your family. Our doors are open.

2. Check your child’s immunization record. Ask your Pediatric Associates office for a current copy or pull it through your patient portal.

3. Get the facts from a trusted source. Visit the American Academy of Pediatrics immunization schedule or our vaccination schedule page for clear, pediatrician-backed information on the childhood vaccine schedule.

Read the Orlando Sentinel commentary   |   Read the State Affairs Florida interview

About Pediatric Associates

Pediatric Associates is Florida’s largest pediatric primary care provider, with more than 95 locations and over 950 dedicated team members delivering compassionate, evidence-based care to children and families across the state. Pediatric Associates provides a personalized, community-centered approach families can trust. For more information, visit PediatricAssociates.com.

Media contact: media@pediatricassociates.com